Densha Otoko – 08

Short Summary:
Kazuya reluctantly helps Tsuyoshi to the hospital, but starts a campaign to make Saori his and deter Tsuyoshi. He introduces himself her fiancé to Tsuyoshi’s face, and goes as far as to block Tsuyoshi on her cell phone. Failing to reach her, Tsuyoshi finally calls her house. Her mother tells him that she’s really sensitive about being lied to. Tsuyoshi decides to “come out” about his otaku behavior to Saori. He gets all of his figures back and redecorates his room. Meanwhile, Kazuya has taken Saori to the beach with plans to propose to her. Before he can pull off his plan, Keisuke calls Saori to tell her that Tsuyoshi phoned some time ago. Overcome with feelings and surprise, Saori rushes to his house, abandoning Kazuya. He’s astonished that she’s there, but proceeds to show her his room in all of its otaku-ness. She not only accepts all of it, but even says that she likes it. He ends up giving her his Mina figure to replace the plates that were going to be her birthday present.

I kind of wish that they had made Kazuya a bit more of a romantic challenge to Tsuyoshi instead of the comedic villain that he comes off as. Especially during his last scene when everything come crashing down on him (Saori runs off, loses the ring, loses the car), he just seems like a bumbling idiot. Though I admit, watching him pretend to be Densha Otoko on the message board was really funny.
I’m a bit disturbed at how smoothly and quickly Saori accepts the otaku-ness. She takes it in stride, even accepting the gift of Tsuyoshi’s precious Mina figure. It feels like she should at least be a little more apprehensive (unless she’s so in love that she doesn’t really care). The next episode preview shows her spending a lot of time with him doing various geeky things in an arcade. However, it also shows her with quite a shocked look on her face when she finds out about the message board. I hope we’re not going to do the one step forward, two steps back thing all over again.

I kinda like the fact that Saori finds Tsuyoshi’s otaku-ness as a minor issue. It’s the lie that really angered her. I suppose, she looks beyond the surface. Remember, she has been burned once by a smooth-talking cad. So maybe she finds this innate geekiness of our protagonist rather refreshing and endearing.

Man, I love the use of music in this series. It can be quirky, cheesy, dramatic, and fun. I might grab the OST once it’s out.

Love this series. You do a great job with the story synopsis. I am so hooked on this series, I watch it without subtitles to to see how well my Japanese studies are coming along, and I find that I’m able to follow along pretty well, much better than I expected. I found a site that supposedly has the original postings. I’d love to read a translated verison of those posts. Otherwise, I’ll have to wait until I learn much more than I have now. Thanks for the great blog! I’ve book marked you and I’ll be back again. :)